US wants details on Israel's 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system

US wants details on Israel's 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system

The U.S. military has furnished millions of dollars to Israel to build and deploy an anti-missile artillery system known as Iron Dome, but
oddly enough the United States knows little about how the system works even though it is in desperate need of just such a system to defend forward
deployed troops on military bases or outposts exposed to rocket attack...

Aside from boasting an 80% effective rate to destroy incoming rockets. The US contributed some $200 million to the development of the system; and
projected in next year's defense bill is an increase to $900 million. One might think that would entitle the US to some degree of ownership of the
particulars; at least to be able to support our own troops and bases in hostile areas.... but no.

Technologically, the system is the work of Israeli mathematicians and engineering... it uses a predictive model to determine which rockets can be
ignored (because they are going to miss) and which to destroy.

Our politicians in the House Armed Services Committee have asked Missile Defense Agency to pursue “any opportunity to enter into co-production of
the Iron Dome system with Israel, in light of the significant U.S. investment in this system.”

Here's the leverage they hope to use:

According to committee spokesman Claude Chafin, the problem is that the U.S. doesn’t have the necessary transparency into the details of Iron
Dome that it has with other U.S.-Israeli anti-missile partnerships, like Arrow and David’s Sling — an opacity that makes it hard to argue the U.S.
should get its own Iron Domes for ships and bases. So the committee wants to condition the next round of $680 million in Iron Dome funding on that
knowledge.

Somehow, I wonder just how effective that will be when our Department of Defense is well manned by Israeli contractor interests... never mind the
political clout Israel's government wields within our own political system.

This will be an interesting negotiation, I think... one we will probably hear almost nothing about, unless i am completely mistaken.

hundreds of rockets from Gaza since the system were deployed were enough to test it. If you were really interested in the issue and not just bashing
Israel, you would see that it has nothing to do with Iranian rockets because those are not short range ones. Geographically speaking.
As for the issue in OP, i think US will get whay they want, they always do when there is an isue between Israeli defence contracors and US ones. And
rightly so because US usually pays for large chunk of that. However US gives money to Israeli government and the system is a design by private
Israeli firm, giving it away for US competitors will take some persuading.
But it will happen.

Honestly, this thread is not about the posturing of the US or Israel, the wars of the Middle East, nor the sadly tired ranting against the Israeli
government.

The intent to is see how such a negotiation might take place between the US Defense industry and the so-called defense-related "private sector" in
Israel.

I am among those who have always felt (or imagined) that there is a global military industrial complex. Such news as this tends to push my thinking
away from that. It would seem illogical to hold that there is such a singular entity if it can't even distribute it's own technologies as it sees
fit.

Unless the idea was to ensure that US forces do NOT get access to it.

As our allies in all overt senses, I would have expected the technology to be shared by Israels Defense agency... the huge sums mentioned seem to
belie any characterization of the US as a "supplicant" in the scenario.

Then of course, there is the matter of the money itself. Is it really true that nearly a billion dollars is intended to go to this private firm to
make what can only be considered a cutting edge technological battlefield advantage that to which we will not have access?

Yes, like US giving Israel F22. Or Israel not giving US...ehhhm.... that thing that they asked.... ehhm ..we both have no idea what because Israel
always accepts US requests,not due to altruistic reasons but nevertheless.
You know SMAW? It is based on Israeli desing. Not F22,but budget is smaller too. There is other stuff designed in Israel that US uses, search if you
are really interested.
To OP.
From what i understand (and i can be easily wrong because i am guessing here really) Israel started this program by itself, funding and ctr. US had
their own systems - Nautilus and such - and was not participating due to Israel choosing local firms over US firms to develop it.
However after first battery US stated to fund more batteries, i think at first more due to political reasons - no repeat of Gaza war - because it
did not ask to be a partner in technology. Now after lots of tests (thanks to Hamas) system is working pretty well ,possibly better then American
ones. So US wants a part in this, after investing so much money.
Frankly, justifiable. However it is not about saving soldiers now - because otherwise US could buy systems for itself rather then investing in systems
for Israel. It is for technology being available to US firms to make their own products.
I do not think that military industrial complex worldwide is one beast, even few firms we have here in Israel compete fiercely among each other and
each has its own lobbies. Then all the bribes scandals and ctr.
They may all share the interest in lots of wars to increase market and support each other in that "noble" cause- i would not be surprised one bit if
it was the case. But who gets bigger and tastier piece of that killing market is more or less free to competition. See how Russian firms compete with
European/American ones in fighter jets contracts. It is not a pretty sight.
And again, i am sure US will get the Iron Dome technology. Once the spice (money) stops flowing , all Israeli excuses also stop

Bear in mind the Iron Dome does not even try to intercept missiles that will not hit a specified area.

So they will never boast about accuracy when not all missiles or rockets launched are accurate in the first place.

The iron dome allows the enemy's misses to land in the water, trees, rocks, and areas where no damage to persons can be done.... considering the
accuracy of the enemy's weapons system is dismally low, Iron Dome seems leaps and bounds better than firing an expensive defense system at every
single rocket the enemy fires.

It may sound like 'relatively' inconsequential amount... but still... I feel that anyone who benefits from the largess of the tax-payers dollars
should be more willing to give us the details of the fruits of our support.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.